00W's AIO Smorgasbord

[Nor'easter Reefer]

When you blow off your rocks, are you siphoning it out into a filter sock in your sump to catch all the yuckies?

I was, but it just worked it's way through my filter socks. It's literally all cyano. Now I throw filter socks into the sump and they end up just as dirty as if I filtered it through them directly vs leaving the pump running it letting it go through naturally as my tank turns over. I have 200 micron felt filter socks

 

[kingranch2003]

They will encrust off the plug and that's there strong hold. Once they have a "foothold" on a rock, they are good to go! If its a larger piece, you can make an adhesive "sandwich"... superglue gel/epoxy/superglue gel

Awesome! Makes perfect sense, thank you. Crazy enough it IS starting to encrust over the plug! I'm loving these guys

 

[kingranch2003]

They will even grow up in to shaded areas.

Do you have any experience with branching cyphastrea? I just picked up a small frag.

 

[kingranch2003]

every time after I place an order, suddenly something arrives I would have liked.
https://www.reefcleaners.org/index....t_id=2022&virtuemart_category_id=4&Itemid=389

30 bucks!?! Wow, that seems very fair . I know what you mean. There's always something better coming up.

 

[tharbin]

Here is a Green Fiji Birdnest that I am currently acclimating. See the downward facing branch on the right side? The coral has slightly encrusted the plug but it is held more by glue than skeleton at this point so an ideal time to mount it. When I do mount it, I will try to make sure that the downward branch is close to some rock as it will continue to grow down and fuse with the rock and then start another upward branch or two from it.

 

[Üter]

30 bucks!?! Wow, that seems very fair . I know what you mean. There's always something better coming up.

yeah. I would have added this. but now I save to next order which I don't have the other things i want. Once that $44 ship gets added, I really want to add the rest of the sensitive critters. I'd like a collector or halloween and a red serpent. I have a bunch of cowries but surprised to see it was removed from their list. they did add a spotted hermit which is supposed to eat hair algae too.

 

[Calmwaters]

I used a plastic box from Home Depot in the Biocube 32 that fit perfectly in the stand. Something that fits in the stand where you are going to put the tank would be perfect, I don't think it has to be very big.

Um it has no stand at the moment it's sitting on my kitchen table... ROFL

 

[kingranch2003]

yeah. I would have added this. but now I save to next order which I don't have the other things i want. Once that $44 ship gets added, I really want to add the rest of the sensitive critters. I'd like a collector or halloween and a red serpent. I have a bunch of cowries but surprised to see it was removed from their list. they did add a spotted hermit which is supposed to eat hair algae too.

The Halloween Hermit is one of my favorite creatures ever!! Excellent cuc members too. Although mine did love the taste of nassarius snails!

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Until I can adjust that PO4 and it is stable, I don't plan on adding anything else to the tank.

Well than you could put "addressing PO4" as your weekly agenda :winking-face-with-tongue:

 

[luis angel]

@kingranch2003 the corals will take care of it for you. You just need to mount them to the rock in an appropriate place. It's best to either do it right away or wait until you see the base starting to encrust out on the plug. The advantage to right away is that it is easier to mount them before they start to spread, the downside is that they may be harder to acclimate if you don't have experience with that type of coral (getting it in a spot it likes).

Once they start to encrust their plug they are actively attaching themselves to the surface. How that happens depends a lot on the type of coral. For instance a birdnest will typically start some downward branches that eventually fuse to the rock while a digitata will typically just get wider and wider at the base encrusting the rock. I let my Bubblegum digi go a bit too long on its plug so I'm just going to cut the post off of the plug and mount it to a rock. I prefer to remove the plugs or remount them to a larger plug/tile early on but I've been negligent lately.

Here is a shot of the Bubblegum right after I moved it back to the DT from the hospital tank on Dec 30th 2024, notice that while it is firmly mounted it hasn't really started to encrust the plug very much. This would have been the ideal time to mount it but the DT wasn't really in good condition.

Here is the same coral a day or two ago. Breaking it off of the plug now is possible but I don't want to stunt its encrusting so I will instead cut the post off and mount the digi and the plug base onto a rock.

Hope this helps.

Great info!!!

 

[Üter]

I was, but it just worked it's way through my filter socks. It's literally all cyano. Now I throw filter socks into the sump and they end up just as dirty as if I filtered it through them directly vs leaving the pump running it letting it go through naturally as my tank turns over. I have 200 micron felt filter socks

you can buy smaller micro socks and use them only for the cyano filtering? or do it during the water change, suck out the cyano with the suction into a bucket which I'm sure you've done already. I'd like to install a drain port on the bottom of the tank. just open and drain. close then open one above the tank to let the new salt water in. I tried doing that with new saltwater from the balcony but unfortunately was messy. so I just use a 1/2 gal pitcher with a cloth under to catch drips. 20 scoops for 10 gallons I can deal with.

 

[kingranch2003]

@kingranch2003 the corals will take care of it for you. You just need to mount them to the rock in an appropriate place. It's best to either do it right away or wait until you see the base starting to encrust out on the plug. The advantage to right away is that it is easier to mount them before they start to spread, the downside is that they may be harder to acclimate if you don't have experience with that type of coral (getting it in a spot it likes).

Once they start to encrust their plug they are actively attaching themselves to the surface. How that happens depends a lot on the type of coral. For instance a birdnest will typically start some downward branches that eventually fuse to the rock while a digitata will typically just get wider and wider at the base encrusting the rock. I let my Bubblegum digi go a bit too long on its plug so I'm just going to cut the post off of the plug and mount it to a rock. I prefer to remove the plugs or remount them to a larger plug/tile early on but I've been negligent lately.

Here is a shot of the Bubblegum right after I moved it back to the DT from the hospital tank on Dec 30th 2024, notice that while it is firmly mounted it hasn't really started to encrust the plug very much. This would have been the ideal time to mount it but the DT wasn't really in good condition.

Here is the same coral a day or two ago. Breaking it off of the plug now is possible but I don't want to stunt its encrusting so I will instead cut the post off and mount the digi and the plug base onto a rock.

Hope this helps.

This is why r2r, and the Smorgasbord specifically, are such amazing places to share knowledge and advance our hobby.

This absolutely helps, @tharbin. I'd wondered if I did this right or not, but it looks like I did. Mine had already begun to encrust the plug, and I did like you suggested, clipping the stem and mounting the partially encrusted frag disk.

Thanks again for such a detailed response sir!

 

[kingranch2003]

Great info!!!

!! We almost need a Smorgasbord archive, so we can keep stuff like this on hand and accessible.

 

[Üter]

Um it has no stand at the moment it's sitting on my kitchen table... ROFL

I'm assuming we are talking ATO reservoir. Why not just a nice looking vase?

 

[luis angel]

!! We almost need a Smorgasbord archive, so we can keep stuff like this on hand and accessible.

I already bookmarked it!!

 

[Calmwaters]

I'm assuming we are talking ATO reservoir. Why not just a nice looking vase?

That's a great idea I use to have some petty ones but not sure if I still do. If not maybe I can go to the thrift store tomorrow.

 

[Rocks reef]

I was, but it just worked it's way through my filter socks. It's literally all cyano. Now I throw filter socks into the sump and they end up just as dirty as if I filtered it through them directly vs leaving the pump running it letting it go through naturally as my tank turns over. I have 200 micron felt filter socks

When I blow off my rocks and sand, I put a 5 micron sock in ... catches a TON of stuff

 

[Rocks reef]

Awesome! Makes perfect sense, thank you. Crazy enough it IS starting to encrust over the plug! I'm loving these guys

I'd place it where you want it if its encrusting. That way you don't damage the tissue on the edges of the plug. Just cut the "stem" off the plug and glue the disc down.

 

[Rocks reef]

Do you have any experience with branching cyphastrea? I just picked up a small frag.

Same as regular cyphastrea. Low light... say 100 par to begin with and see how it tolerates it. They are a low light coral from deeper waters.

 

[Rocks reef]

Here is a Green Fiji Birdnest that I am currently acclimating. See the downward facing branch on the right side? The coral has slightly encrusted the plug but it is held more by glue than skeleton at this point so an ideal time to mount it. When I do mount it, I will try to make sure that the downward branch is close to some rock as it will continue to grow down and fuse with the rock and then start another upward branch or two from it.

Good plan